Diane Moore has for the past three decades been the director of Advocates Building Peaceful Communities, the Steamboat Springs-based organization that provides support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Steamboat Springs  Alice Klauzer can't recall a single dinner she's had with Diane Moore that wasn't interrupted by Moore's cellphone or pager.

“She's always on call,” Klauzer said as she recalled those many meals with her friend that were paused when Moore had to respond to a crisis, consult with law enforcement or go to accompany a rape victim at Yampa Valley Medical Center late at night.

Moore's dedication to her job continues to impress her longtime friend.

“I could not do what she does,” Klauzer said.

When she learned Moore, the executive director of Advocates Building Peaceful Communities, will be presented Friday with the Health Care Community Advocate Award from the Healthcare Foundation for the Yampa Valley, Klauzer reacted with three words:

“It's about time,” she said.

The award is given each year to individuals who channel the legacy of Doc Willett, who for 56 years tended to patients and made house calls in Routt County by buggy, sleigh, horseback and automobile.

Moore has for the past three decades been the director of the Steamboat Springs-based organization that provides support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Since its inception in 1983, Advocates has supported more than 7,000 clients with programs that include a part-time shelter, an immediate crisis response team, short-term counseling and supervised visitations.

Advocates also works in local schools to teach teens about preventing dating violence and bullying.

Moore's friends say she has a deep passion for making life better for people who are in trauma.

She often is called to help console victims of traumatic experiences that range from plane crashes to domestic violence to rape.

“Diane is a very unique individual,” Klauzer's husband, Randy, said Thursday. “She takes other people's pain every single day, and she does it well. Of course, it takes a unique person. It takes a person who is extremely empathetic, sympathetic, and at the same time, you have to be extra grounded.”

Asked how she's able to continue answering her phone to respond to traumas after all these years, Moore said said she always has felt she was meant to do this work.

“I found a purpose, and began to realize I could make a difference,” she said in her office that is adorned with a stunning portrait of a Central American woman that Moore admires because the photo captures the woman's strength and resiliency. “I know people count on us. I know they count on us, and it's just important to me that I'm there.”

Moore said as new laws have been put in place to help victims of domestic violence, the issue is no longer one that's only talked about behind closed doors.

“Thirty years ago, women would say to me, 'You mean this happens to others? You mean I'm not crazy?' I don't hear that anymore,” Moore said. “We've embraced the issues through legislation and through services.”

Like past winners of the Doc Willett Award, Moore also is a humble person who doesn't work to earn the spotlight.

She said her organization that includes 12 to 14 volunteers and six staff members could not have accomplished what it has today without the support of the community, law enforcement, volunteers and other human services agencies.

“There are days I think, 'Gosh, we have so far to go,' but we really have made a difference not only in our community but across the country,” Moore said.